Filmed in 1959 and released in late 1960, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho has been voted the #3 best horror movie of all time. Made with Hitchcock’s own money ($800,000) and generally regarded as too base and cheap a property for the great director. Psycho surprised everyone, making more money than any of his other pictures. Hitch was so confident in the film that he took no fee for direction instead opting for 60% of ticket sales. He certainly played his cards right, with Psycho making well over $40 million in his lifetime, giving him a tidy fortune and the last laugh.

Basil Gogos – During the 1960s, Gogos provided a steady stream of illustrations for a variety of New York-based publications. The majority of his work during this period was for men’s adventure magazines for which he painted scenes of World War II battles, jungle perils and crime as well as cheesecake portraits of beautiful women. However, Gogos’ greatest impact as an illustrator was the work he did for Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. The magazine’s covers were usually eye-catching close-ups of horror movie characters that had become popular again with their re-release on TV. Gogos first cover featured an impressionistic portrait of Vincent Price from House of Usher painted in shades of red, yellow and green. Over the next two decades, he created almost 50 covers for Famous Monsters, many of which have become iconic images of that period.

In the late 1970s, Gogos gave up full time commercial illustration to devote himself more to his original goal of doing fine art. He produced personal art pieces in watercolor and other media, while earning his livelihood as a photo retoucher in the ad department of United Artists. While there, he also did occasional illustrations for movie posters. Gogos later moved into advertising where he produced presentation sketches and storyboards for commercials for a major ad agency.

Due to a resurgence of interest in classic horror films and collectibles, Gogos returned to the horror genre in the 1990s. During this time, new Gogos monster portraits appeared on trading cards, lithographs and the covers of Monsterscene magazine. He has also painted CD covers for rock stars Rob Zombie and The Misfits.

The Bride of Frankenstein, 1935 – The first of a long list of sequels in the Frankenstein saga. The first treatment was called The New Adventures of Frankenstein — The Monster Lives!, but quickly changed. Directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff as the Monster and 33 year old Elsa Lancaster as the titular Bride (as well as Mary Shelly in the opening sequence). The film was critically praised upon its release, although some reviewers did qualify their opinions based on the film’s being in the horror genre. The New York Telegram called the film “good entertainment of its kind”. The New York Post described it as “a grotesque, gruesome tale which, of its kind, is swell”. The Hollywood Reporter similarly called the film “a joy for those who can appreciate it” The posters and art for Bride… are all beautiful and extremely rare. The first poster below brought over $700K at auction a few years ago (there’s only one thought to exist).

More creepy than gruesome, these were originally intended to be part of another Halloween post but that seemed slightly disrespectful somehow. These are, however, incredibly interesting, the doctors, the setting, the tools and the corpses themselves. These aren’t meant to show how to perform autopsy’s but more a class photo that happens to have a dead person in it. Slight warning – these are a bit disturbing so continue at your own risk.